Reading using directionality and reversals

Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Tarot  

This is the reading I've been exploring in my journal for the last few days. I'd drawn cards of the number 5 two days in a row (not pictured). Five being associated with finding balance, I asked 'What is attempting to find balance in my life right now? What is out of balance? and What is maintaining equilibrium?' I drew Magician Rx, Strength, Star.

So, a weakened Magician is attempting to find balance right now. Personal power is not being used to bring my needs into reality. I am not identifying my true needs. Strength has come forward as what is out of balance right now -- again a card of personal power and taking the bull by the horns (or lion by the jaw). The Star has maintained equilibrium -- hope has not been lost. I have felt all along that there is plenty of time to address my issues. I just haven't done anything about them. (The reason why is seen in 9 of Pentacles later).

To rectify the reversed Magician, I drew Hermit and placed it above Magician. I can identify my true needs and establish balance in my personal power within myself, or with the help of a mentor, or in a spiritual tradition or practice. wondering what the Hermit's lamp was lighting, I drew another card to see what was in his line of sight. Queen of Cups. Her posture echoes that of the Hermit -- both facing to the left, both intent upon the item they are holding, for the Hermit, the lamp of enlightenment, for the Queen it's the world's craziest cup, shaped like the Ark of the Covenant with the seraphim on either side (if the Ark of the Covenant were made of spare pipe and hood ornaments nicked from the cars of pimps in Starsky and Hutch.)  Queen of Cups is Water of Water -- and so was the daily card that prompted this draw (not in the photo), 5 of Cups, another Water of Water card. This imbalance or disturbance is in the realm of emotions and relationships and personal power.

 Looking at the Queen of Cups and Hermit makes one long to know what is in their line of sight -- so I drew another card to see what they are looking at and got 8 of Cups reversed. Another Water of Water card! 8 of Cups is recognition of time to move on; reversed suggests confusion or delay in making that move.

How can I overcome this confusion, find some clarity? I drew a card to rectify the 8 of Cups reversed and got -- King of Swords reversed! Fire of Air, reversed. I am Aquarius, and King of Swords is the card associated with Aquarius. He's sort of my default setting. But here, to overcome my confusion about what needs looking at and changing, I can't do it through King of Swords, but through King of Swords reversed. Usually, I tend to be rational about things but now that is not what is needed. To clarify this, I remembered a technique of identifying reversed court cards by identifying their elemental opposite. If King of Swords is Fire of Air, his opposite would be Air of Fire --Knight of Wands!

Knight of Wands, that maker of 'down and dirty' plans, that explorer and adventurer, that risk taker! Knight of Wands? How the heck do I access Knight of Wands energy when I don't even feel that I remotely have it right now?

I took the card out of the pack and looked at it for a while. I noticed the pyramids in the background. The Knight of Wands is not drawing energy from his surroundings, which are dry and barren. His passion is inside him. So it must be somewhere inside of me, even when there is nothing in my environment or situation to feed it. What is the Knight of Wands charging toward? What is he charging away from?

I put the card back in the pack and shuffled to find out which cards he would end up between. I found the Knight of Wands and laid him out with the cards on either side of him: Chariot, Knight of Wands, 9 of Pentacles.

The Knight of Wands is moving away from 9 of Pentacles (Air of Earth), whose energy and line of sight are directed away from him (though her body posture is still open to his direction). Her attention is definitely elsewhere, focused on her bird (Air) of prey (Earth). As Air of Earth, she contemplates the material/physical realm. Her satisfaction with her status quo is evident. She is complacent, self-congratulatory, self-satisfied. These are not bad things, but the way she spends her leisure time may no longer be balanced -- too long standing still. Too long watching others move (her bird of prey, which she will presumably set loose to watch fly).

How does the Knight of Wands move me from too much physical luxury? What does he move me toward? The Chariot, a Water card, associated with Cancer and the Moon. Okay, so the Water of Water cards led me to draw a variety of Water cards that have laid me a path to -- a Water major! The emotional plane is dominant in this issue. Not the material plane or the logical plane, but the emotional plane, and how to take action with balanced emotions.

'Cancer is the gateway to incarnation, as Capricorn (its opposite) is the gateway to ascension. Cancer's energy guides us to learn the distinctions of our emotional and logical reasoning so we can recognise how they don't always agree' - agent64.com/cancer-the-chariot

Like a Cancerian crab, the Chariot has a hard shell and a soft centre -- appearing tough on the outside but deep down quite sensitive and vulnerable.

The Chariot card is full of this tension between opposing forces: black and white sphinxes, male and female, facing in opposite directions, meant to be pulling the chariot but not hitched to it and lying down (they seem ambivalent), the lingam and yoni on the shield (which to me looks like a top that spins in place but doesn't actually get anywhere), the chariot is a conveyance but is built like a cube of concrete, no reins and no motion in the charioteer who is encased in the concrete cube (he seems ambivalent), chariots are often associated with the sun ('chariots of fire') but this one is decorated with moons and starry night skies and is associated with the moon.

In other words, the Knight of Wands is me progressing, through my own inner drive,  toward a state of balance created by acknowledging that there is always a state of perpetual tension, and harnessing that tension to drive my life forward. I have been looking for balance rather than acknowledging constant tension. In fact, I have turned from acknowledgement of tension, turned from the areas that need attention (Water and Fire) and settled into some complacent wallowing in the material realm. And there I've wallowed for quite some time.

'To be useful, either to herself or any higher purpose, she had to use her ambivalence as a driving force in her life, a force that would power the Chariot' (Rachel Pollack, The Forest of Souls, 75).

Much to ponder. The Chariot and the Knight of Wands are going on my altar.

Some of these techniques were shared by Caitlin Matthews in a session at the UK Tarot Conference, October 2015. A webinar and DVD of line of sight and rectifying reversals, etc,  may be available at some point. Visit her website at Hallowquest.

Other techniques seen herein have been shared by Alison Cross in TABI conferences, by Benebell Wen in her book Holistic Tarot, and many others.

Tarot de St Croix Diamond Spread

A reading for this week at work

De St Croix Diamond 5-Card Spread

(from Tarot de St Croix LWB)

1. Signifier: What or who am I in this situation? - 6 of Swords
2. Unconscious: What is underneath or hidden? - 8 of Cups
3. Release: What do I need to let go of? - 8 of Wands
4. Conscious: What is on my mind, what do I already know? - Judgement
5. Receive: What do I expect or need to open to? - Hermit

The signifier tells me at least one and possibly all of the following: I am in a position to be a catalyst for change, I am in a position to receive guidance through this change, and this change will happen and will soon be a memory, all behind me. It would seem that it's up to me to determine how smooth the sailing is. The idea of moving on or turning into a new direction is seen in both 6 of Swords and 8 of Cups. Both cards imply that the turning away is caused by some pain (or is causing some pain) but that the transition is both welcome and inevitable. In other words, the situation has reached a turning point and there is no way a corner won't be turned this week.

Tarot de St Croix says this about 8 of Cups: 'Emotional strength is not about overcoming our feelings but instead immersing ourselves in them until we can release them.' There are many ways to read this statement - none of which seem to have much to do with traditional interpretations of this card. It's saying to feel what I feel and not deny it. It could also be saying that there is a time and a place to release emotions and to be aware of that (ie, be on guard against emotive outbursts).  Finally, I also see it as a reminder that I am not the only one with feelings and it might be useful to try immersing myself in someone else's feelings in order to understand them better and be of help to them.

I need to let go of urgency. The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, as good old King Solomon obligingly reminds us. It is probably time to listen more than I talk and by that I don't mean sitting in silence, but actually understand and accept the ideas and opinions of others in a way that may change the way I behave in the future. Listening may not always be expedient, but it is certainly more helpful.

I already know that a sea change is needed in my work place in order for us to survive. My grave concern is that certain others will not take seriously the precarious situation we are in. It is so important, for our very survival, that we make big changes in the way we do things, and this is where my sense of urgency comes from. I lose patience watching others going through the stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance) that go along with big changes. Some of us hear the trumpet call and ready to rise up renewed (RWS imagery), others still slumber in the tomb, as it were. The Tarot de St Croix depicts life changing moments in a cathedral: 'Look at your beliefs and decide if they work for you,' the companion book advises. I already know that I have been doing that, and I know that all members of staff need to do it, too.

I need to expect and be open to the fact that this will take time. The Hermit is Father Time and it is that aspect that I see applying here. I don't see how 'solitude' has much to do with anything, though the implication is there that I may not have many allies during this transitional time. I also must be prepared to receive that it's all going to take much longer than I would have hoped. I just hope it doesn't take so long that it becomes too late.

In summary, this spread is telling me that change happens slowly, it is complicated, it involves a lot of emotions, and being impatient is only going to complicate matters. It tells me to LISTEN and to empathise.

Long week ahead. LOL

How about a draw from The Wicca Deck (Sally Morningstar 2001) for a final word on the issue:

Okay, the companion book says and I quote:

High Note - Change is coming. Are you ready?
Low Note - Release; let go. Prepare.

So, that pretty much confirms all of what I said in the tarot reading. The book goes on to say that it is a time to draw toward you what you need to advance your position in life, and that you need to release something in order for this to happen. What I need is for staff to bring their practices in line with the rest of the service, and what I need to let go of is the desire for them to do it how I want it when I want it. As long as they do it, that's what counts.

Tarot and the 12 Steps: 10-12

This is the 4th of 4 posts examining the connection between the first 12 tarot majors and the 12 steps of addiction recovery.  

Introduction
Steps 1-3
Steps 4-6
Steps 7-9

10. We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it. 

Of Step 10, the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous says, 'We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime' (page 84).

And so we have the Hermit, the tarot major that typifies a life's devotion to pursuing personal (and cosmic) truths through introspection, meditation, and continuous self-reflection, resulting in constant spiritual growth.

There are two prayers in AA that, according to the Big Book, go with Step 11, but I think they fit very well with Step 10, and certainly with the Hermit:

Morning prayer-
God, inspire my thinking, decisions and intuitions today. Help me to relax and take it easy. Free me from doubt and indecision. Guide me through this day and show me my next step. God, show me what I need to do to take care of any problems. I ask all these things that I may be of maximum service to you and my fellow man. In the spirit of the Steps I pray. AMEN

Sirian Starseed Hermit

Sirian Starseed Tarot 

Isn't this a simply gorgeous Hermit card? I love it. It's called 'Reflection' instead of Hermit, and the LWB offers these questions for...reflection...

Am I able to silence my mind and reflect on the situation at hand? How am I quieting my mind to contemplate the higher truth? Am I able to be still and listen to my inner voice? Have I matured from what I have learned?

The immediate situation at hand for me is I have made an appointment for 9.00 this morning to see the dentist about this swelling of the gums around my tooth. It's the tooth with the filling that gave me so much trouble in March and April. I have many fears about this, but I must quiet those fears because I don't know anything yet. There's simply no need worrying about the things that the dentist 'might' say, the treatment options that she might give me. In fact, from what I've read, I know what they 'might' be: a treatment of the gums involving an incision to drain the abscess (assuming it is an abscess), a root canal, or extraction. That's pretty much all they can do. But there's no point wondering and worrying what she is going to say until she says it.

The last two nights I have gone to bed very early. Night before last, 9.00, last night 8.30. I slept all night, except night before last, when pain in my gums awoke me at 2.45 and I got up to rub them with clove oil and take some ibuprofen. Last night I woke up briefly but the discomfort wasn't bad enough for me to have to get up to take pain relievers.

I can reflect on this fact. I am very lucky to live in a time when pain relief is a small matter of 50p or less for a box of ibuprofen, and dental care is available to help me. I might not particularly want to have a gap where a tooth used to be, but even if it comes to that, the procedure will not be life-threatening nor a torment of pain. For that I am grateful.

But for now, I hope that it's something minor that will require just a bit of fixing up.

ETA: Well, I'm back. The dentist said I have an external infection, gave me some antibiotics and made noises about my 'very deep filling' and hinted that this tooth might not be terribly long for this world. For now, though, I will happy to have this infection cleared up and no more pain. And I hope to hang on to to the tooth for another several years. To that end, I've decided to go off sugar. It will be for the best for me in every way.

Root and branch - the Hermit in Pearls of Wisdom Tarot

Again, so many symbols are in today's card from Roxi Sim's amazing Pearls of Wisdom Tarot. We have the Hermit, carrying a staff, around which winds a snake, green with red diamonds on its back. he holds the lamp aloft, standing in the mouth of a cave. The path flows out from his feet. On an altar before him, a holy book, marked by a string of pearls with a green pendant at the end, a bowl of pears. On the other side of the path is a fire. It appears to be evening, as the sky is multi-coloured, and it must be either early spring or late fall, as the tree in the background is bare.

The borders feature the staff on the right side, the lamp on the left. The sides look like the stone walls of a hermitage, and the rune 'perthro' is on the left border. It means, literally 'the unknown', a good symbol for the Hermit, who has devoted himself to solitary contemplation of mystery. As you would expect to find in a hermitage, there are shelves of books at the top of the card, with the pearl bookmarks hanging nearby; the lights on the shelf represent the enlightenment to be found within the pages of the books.

Today my husband and I did a yoga practice together, and wrote a small opening and closing ritual to do before and after. It is our intention to practice yoga every day for a year -- 13 May 2014 - 13 May 2015. I am very excited about this and feel it will open up new realms in our spiritual practice.

The Hermit stands in the entrance to the cave. I can hear him saying...'Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.' I know I am taking that Scripture and placing it in an entirely new context, but that's the way the subconscious works -- it takes the raw material it has been given and stretches it to new dimensions (just ask old Uncle Al). We shall all be changed, because change is unavoidable. But we shall not ALL sleep -- some of us will become awake.

When the Buddha started to wander around India shortly after his enlightenment, he encountered several men who recognized him to be a very extraordinary being. They were perplexed by him and began to question him.

'Are you a god?' they asked him. 'No,' he replied.

'Are you a reincarnation of a god?' they asked. 'No', he replied.

'Are you a wizard then?'

'No.'

'Well...are you a man?' The Buddha answered, 'No.'

The men were deeply puzzled. 'So...what are you then?' they asked.

'I am awake.'

And so...we shall not all sleep. (Especially not me. I've been up since 4.30 AM. Darn UK summer sunrise!)

Sherlock Holmes Tarot Week - The Hermit

Another major today from Sherlock Holmes Tarot (Connections, 2014). Today's card is the Hermit, or Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's elder brother. The model for this card is clearly the deck's creator, John Matthews. (John's wife, Caitlin, also appears several times in the deck as Mrs Hudson, Sherlock's landlady.) Mycroft appears in two of the Sherlock Holmes short stories and is mentioned vaguely in two others. He is seven years older than Sherlock, a shadowy figure who holds a powerful but mysterious position in the British government. Sherlock describes Mycroft as fat and lazy, but he clearly admires him and considers him a superior intellect. He is willing to offer Sherlock solutions to problems based on seemingly no evidence (his powers of deductive reasoning seem to outstrip Sherlock's in that regard), but he will seldom bestir himself to further involvement.

...he has no ambition and no energy. He will not even go out of his way to verify his own solutions, and would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right. Again and again I have taken a problem to him, and have received an explanation which has afterwards proved to be the correct one. 

—Sherlock Holmes, speaking of his brother in "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter"

The conclusions of every department are passed to him, and he is the central exchange, the clearinghouse, which makes out the balance. All other men are specialists, but his specialism is omniscience.

     ---"The Bruce Partington Plans"

Unlike the TV series, there is no sibling rivalry between the two and they seem to get on very well. 

I like that this character has been chosen to represent the Hermit - it seems very fitting. In this card we see Mycroft, the Hermit, carefully putting on his white gloves, the Hermit's lantern waiting at his side. The Hermit provides guidance, wisdom, spiritual illumination, counsel, quiet reflection, stillness. He represent retreat from the external world, looking for answers, the need to understand, deep contemplation.

What will I reflect upon today?

Hermity Monday

How interesting that today's card is The Hermit, because it is associated with Virgo, and the full moon was in Virgo yesterday. This week's decks are Legend: Arthurian Tarot by Anna-Marie Ferguson, and Camelot Oracle by John Matthews, art by Will Worthington.

The Hermit card means a need for solitude, for withdrawing into oneself for quiet contemplation. It can also mean a meeting with a wise teacher. Today at work, I hope to meet with my manager to discuss my work programme for the week, and then I will be working from home tomorrow, and possibly the next day, I don't know yet. That filling I got in my tooth last Tuesday popped out on Friday night, can you believe that? Of course it didn't pop out until after 6 pm, so I had no way of calling the dentist to make an appointment to get it fixed. So I have to go in to work today and call from there. Fingers crossed I can get an appointment tomorrow, when I had already planned to work from home anyway, but I'm pretty sure my managers will be understanding and also allow me to work from home another day if I'm unable to get an appointment for tomorrow.

All of the cards in Legend: Arthurian take their content from the stories of King Arthur. For Hermit, Ferguson has chosen the period of time when Lancelot flees from court life after he and Guinevere have been caught committing adultery. He goes to the forest where he lives in penance and prayer as a hermit until he returns to Arthur's side in the final battle against Mordred. At least that's how some versions go.

St Ambrusca's Well 

I've got the companion book that is available separately from the deck called 'A Keeper of Words', also by Anna-Marie Ferguson. In the book, she explains that Lancelot is nude amid the roots of trees to symbolise his closeness to his own foundations; the torch in his left hand symbolises the subconscious, a reminder to watch for insights in dreams. The spring is meant to be St Ambrew's Well, which symbolises a 'long forgotten source of inspiration and fulfillment.'

Accompanying this card, I've drawn a card from the Camelot Oracle, the Doubtful Path. Interestingly, this path leads the Hermitage! 'This is a difficult path for many of us because it is hard to find. It is a road of choices, not always easy to see, yet it brings you to the Hermitage, a place of contemplation and reassessment where you may stay for a while, away from the noise and stresses of your everyday life,' reads the companion book by John Matthews.

I believe today will be day of making appointments and plans for my working from home days, which will be like days in the 'hermitage'.

The Green Lantern

The Hermit is associated by many with the solar plexus chakra, so I'm a little curious as to why Phillip Permutt chose peridot as the crystal for this tarot major. The solar plexus chakra is yellow, and I would have expected citrine or some other yellow stone for that chakra, but perhaps that's just me being simple-minded. It turns out, it actually is me being simple-minded -- I just checked the book and Permutt says: 'Peridot offers protection from outside influences, allowing you to find the inner space that you really need. It also helps you focus within yourself during your meditation.' That makes sense. I'd love a peridot mala, but peridot is so expensive, that will never happen! It also turns out that many crystal healers associate peridot with both the solar plexus chakra and the heart chakra, and to be fair, it does have a yellowish cast to it. Yellow-green.

The card is telling me to be quiet today and hear my inner voice. The Hermit's head is facing the left side of the card, which is associated with the past or looking inward or backward. I should heed my own counsel and avoid the habit of seeking answers outside myself. I can see where this advice may be coming from, because I've just ordered a couple of books about a topic I've become more interested in lately. I need the reminder that I should follow my own intuition even if it doesn't match exactly what I see in books.